visiting christmas markets primarily in eastern europe 2025

We are in the same boat. We are visiting Salzburg, Budapest, Vienna, and Krakow. We will be in Vienna over Christmas and have been trying to find restaurant that take reservations that will be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I'd strongly recommend deciding on an itinerary asap, as many hotels are fully booked by June, especially on the weekends. We really liked staying in the city centers, so you can go back to the hotel midday and rest the feet and warm up. We brought hardwarners and put them in our gloves. With the right clothing, the cold isn't much of a factor, but do bring rain gear (Eg poncho) and waterproof shoes.

Have a magical trip!

Budapest! Slowly I turned, step by step .... okay, nevermind, old joke.

So, first, in Budapest at least, there are things to do on Christmas eve and Christmas Day. And yes, plenty of places to eat other than hotel restaurants ... but those too and some are quite good. There is another post where I did some research, if I can find it again I will put it below.

For the markets there is this thread: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/budapest-christmas-markets-d26f8ab1-2048-4160-bfb3-bf13b096683e

Here is a sample of restaurants open for the holidays. Really, just sampling, there are more but you must do the research, send the emails, read the websites or make some phone calls. These are all pretty nice, but I picked nice ones because it’s a holiday. Also check here: https://www.opentable.com/s?dateTime=2025-12-24T19%3A00%3A00&covers=2&metroId=3386&regionIds[]=7374&shouldUseLatLongSearch=false&originCorrelationId=44efd2d4-5b16-4771-8066-b979f820fc92&corrid=23a9d5d7-b1ab-4df4-8580-e5aafd8f720f&queryUnderstandingType=none&showMap=true&sortBy=web_conversion

OPEN 24, 25, 26, 31 DECEMBER
- TwentySix https://twentysixbudapest.com/
- KOLLÁZS – Brasserie & Bar https://www.kollazs.hu/
- Spago by Wolfgang Puck https://spagobudapest.com/en/
- Pest - Buda Bistro
https://www.pest-buda.com/restaurant-in-the-buda-castle.html
- Christmas Dinner Cruise
https://budapestrivercruise.com/budapest-christmas-cruise
- More restaurants:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/restaurants-in-budapest-revisited

OPEN 25, 26 & 31 DECEMBER
- Szeged Vendeglo https://www.szegedvendeglo.hu/
- Callas Café https://callascafe.hu/
- Sir Lancelot https://sirlancelot.hu/
- Robinson https://www.robinsonrestaurant.hu/en
- Dunacorso Étterem https://www.dunacorso.hu/

What to do.

• Hungarian State Opera: 24th Matinee Nutcracker, 25th Matinee/Evening Nutcracker https://www.opera.hu/hu/
• Eiffel Studio: 24th Matinee Ember Flute https://www.opera.hu/hu/
• Operett Theater: 25th Matinee/Evening Nutcracker https://operett.hu/
  
• Budapest Zoo 24th and 25th https://zoobudapest.com/en/home/
• Budapest Circuis 24th Matinee https://fnc.hu/
• Go to a Bathhouse. Most remain open every day of the year.
• Go to a skating rink, the one at City Park is amazing. If you don’t skate, just watch. This place is huge and there is a café. https://mujegpalya.hu/en/home-en/
• Some of the Christmas markets don’t close till mid afternoon on the 24th and open again on the 25th. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/budapest-christmas-markets-d26f8ab1-2048-4160-bfb3-bf13b096683e
• The river cruises for sightseeing (the lights!!!) or dinner or a show. I would trackdown the provider website, but here is an overview of what is available: https://www.budapest-river-cruises.com/
• Wander the streets with the locals and enjoy the lights of the holiday. Sunset is about 4pm so lots of time to see the lights.
  

Where to stay
- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/rs-forum-favorite-hotels-and-their-cost

Vienna must be magical this time of year!
I hope places are not completely booked yet because that might be an issue during the holiday season.

I agree with Pat; book your hotels ASAP. I made reservations in July, and the choices to be in convenient locations in the cities were slim and some cities, expensive. Personally, I would drop Bratislava and spend any of that planned time in Vienna.

You are talking about two weeks and some pretty interesting logistics. Vienna and Budapest will be the crown jewells of the trip and require the most time to get the most out of. I would suspect you want to be in one or the other on the 24th, 25th and 26th so you have more to chose from for things to do. Some markets run until the first of the year, but often in a diminished capacity. Are you hanging around until New Years? Cause where you are for that will be important.

Here is a start. I picked Budapest as the start because of the location and flow (everthing else on your list is north of Budapest). The problem is you didnt give us a start date and an end date so its hard to suggest being in certain places for certaiin things on certain days.

1. Departure day
2. Arrival day
3. Budapest
4. Budapest
5. Budapest
6. Train to Vienna
7. Vienna
8. Vienna
9. Vienna
10. Flight or Train to Krakow
11. Krakow etc......
    

Of the cities you mention, Vienna is my favorite for Christmas markets. There are many great markets in the city and the city itself is fun with lots to do. Here is where I stayed last year which was near a couple of markets: Hotel Secession An Der Oper. It is between Weihnachtsdorf Maria-Theresian Platz and the Art Advent on Karlsplatz.
I would skip Bratislava, nice but not special.
We enjoyed Krakow, but felt a much better market was in Wrocław, Poland.
Have you considered Dresden? It is in what was Eastern Germany, and is my all time favorite city for its numerous Christmas Markets.

Please visit Prague.

My birthday is in November and I am of an age where I say one slice of cake is not going to cut it and need a month in Europe! I mention that since quite a few Markets begin from the 20th of November or at least early December. So unless you are intent to spend Christmas in Europe, there is not necessarily the need to do so in order to visit the Markets. Remember too that in a lot of countries December 26 is a holiday. December 25 is a holiday so what else were you thinking you were going to be able to do on that day? Can I also say lots of cities have more than one Market. On one of my visits in Paris went to about 3 markets and sadly realized they were almost all the same. Not quite a "you've seen one you've seemun all" but close! And I LOVE Xmas Markets!

PS: I leave for Eastern Europe on Tuesday, Oct 7 if anything I can check out for you I would be glad to!

Just as general advice around mass events: be aware of pickpockets and always carry your belongings in front of you. Do not lay your mobile or purse open onto a table.

Mark has a point but one I think needs to be kept in perspective. I can go to the winebar next door tonight and 3 out of 5 tables of locals will have a cell phone sitting on it. The real issue is that they are home, you dont have a support network in Europe so you should be extra careful. Replacing cards or passports can be a real pain. That being said, in Vienna and Budapest at least, the odds of being the victim of a pickpocket might not be greater than in your US hometown. So take a few precautions, then dont think to much about it.

As an aside, the places listed are not really considered eastern europe in the current year, at least not by the people living there. Austria, Hungary, and Poland are central europe. Croatia is central & southern europe. Latvians prefer to be known as northern european as I understand. Just something to keep in mind